Dubinsky propels Rangers past Sabres

Jan 17, 2008 - 4:17 AM

By Larry Fleisher
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) - For the New York Rangers, their first
meeting with the Buffalo Sabres was hardly about gaining a
measure of revenge. It was more about reverting to the way they
played earlier in the season.

Brandon Dubinsky and Petr Prucha each collected a goal and an
assist as the Rangers edged the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1, on
Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Henrik Lundqvist finished with 23 saves and also supported a
solid effort by the penalty killers, who held Buffalo scoreless
in five chances, including a lengthy 5-on-3 in the second
period.

It marked the first meeting between the teams since Game Six of
last spring's Eastern Conference semifinals on May 6. The
Sabres won that contest, 5-4, before losing in the conference
finals to the Ottawa Senators.

Like Game Six, it was a must-win for the Rangers but for
different reasons. Although New York stopped a season-high
five-game losing streak with Saturday's 4-1 win over Montreal,
it came into this contest 1-5-1 in its previous seven and 6-11-3
since December 1.

"Obviously we had a bad string," Dubinsky said. "I think for
our team and for our season's sake, we've got to turn the corner
and make sure we're bringing that effort and that intensity
every night and having fun every night - because we're confident
in the group of guys that we have."

In their previous six wins, the Rangers had allowed just seven
goals and faced with the prospect of hitting the .500 mark, they
did many of the defensive things that led them through a 12-3-1
stretch.

"It seems whenever we win, that's we do," New York coach Tom
Renney said of the forechecking and defense. "So that's a
decent recipe for success. Teams that can transition well and
add defensemen to it, it's better to come 200 feet instead of
25. We talked a lot about it in terms of making and finishing
checks. That's important."

"We got to get a lot of wins going through the next couple of
months," said Rangers center Blair Betts, who was named the
contest's third star. "It seems like we'll play a really good
game and then we'll kind of slip a little bit. We got to get
more consistent, get on a roll and get our confidence back and I
think when we do get our confidence back, things will come a
little easier. Our little mistakes won't come back to haunt us."

While it picked up a much-needed win for New York, it also
continued the losing for Buffalo, which has dropped its last 10
(0-5-5). The Sabres have not won since a 6-5 shootout win in
Philadelphia on December 22 and have scored just 15 goals since
then.

Jason Pominville scored the lone goal and Ryan Miller finished
with 33 saves. Despite that and four straight power plays in
the second period, the Sabres never led and lost the lead at
9:42 of the session.

"We had a few power plays," Pominville said. "We weren't able
to get anything out of them. They're a good penalty kill team,
but we got to better on the power play."

Dubinsky, who earlier Wednesday, was named to the YoungStars
competition during the All-Star weekend, finished with his
second career multi-point game. He won a faceoff from Buffalo's
Paul Gaustad, whipped it back to defenseman Paul Mara just
inside the blue line and Prucha stood in front of the net and
deflected the one-timer past Miller.

"It was a great faceoff win," Prucha said. "I just tried to tip
it and then the puck was in."

After Prucha's fifth goal, the Rangers had to kill of four
straight penalties. Among them was a lengthy 5-on-3 when Chris
Drury and defenseman Marek Malik were whistled for holding just
eight seconds apart.

Lundqvist made three saves during the two-man advantage and also
help from penalty killers, who spent the penalty kill blocking
shots.

"It's exciting to get back that feeling," Lundqvist said. "I
think we've let in a couple of goals on the PK, and if we can
tighten that up, it will make the difference I think. Tonight
was a big step in the right direction for us. If we keep doing
that, I think we have a much better chance to get the two points
every night."

The Rangers broke on top just 6:15 into the contest when
Dubinsky finished off a slick pass through the slot by Nigel
Dawes. Prucha also set up the goal by chipping it from behind
the net to Dawes.

Buffalo tied when Pominville finished off a tremendous passing
play. After All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell left a pass in
the right circle to Clarke MacArthur, Pominville finished the
play by beating Lundqvist, who was unable to get back in
position.

That was among the few highlights for the Sabres, who have lost
four consecutive one-goal games and six during this skid.

"That was the disappointing part of the game," Buffalo coach
Lindy Ruff said. "We got a few pucks to the net but we didn't
make any plays.